ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Becoming a Chartered Professional

Accountant (CPA)

By Jovun Brar
March 10, 2015

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:
How does one become a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA)?
The certification process for becoming a Certified Professional in accounting has changed over
the past few years. In the past one could choose to become a Chartered Accountant (CA), a
Certified General Account (CGA) or a Certified Management Accountant (CMA). Recently
the certification process for these three professions merged. Today if one wants to purse an
accounting or management accounting career there is only one designation, the Chartered
Professional Accountant (CPA) designation. Understanding all the requirements of the CPA
designation is important as I may pursue this as my career choice.

CITATIONS AND ANNOTATIONS

"Become A CPA." Chartered Professional Accountants Ontario. CPA Ontario, 2015. Web. 09 Mar. 2015.

This website describes how CGA Ontario has merged with CPA Ontario and how students in the CGA
program are affected by the changes. It speaks positively of the Chartered Professional Accountant
designation and speaks about how CPAs earn good money. The website provides a lot of information
about the changes to the CGA program, becoming a CPA, examination information, career
opportunities and other topics related to CPA Ontario. It provides credible information for the general
public and there is a login option for registered users. The registered users most likely have access to
more detailed information. The website is highly informative and accurate as it is a CPA Ontario
website. The CPA Ontario website is a credible source as many professionals rely on the information of
this website. Important information about becoming a CPA is documented thoroughly on this website.

"Colby McGeachy Professional Corporation." Colby McGeachy Professional Corporation. Colby McGeachy
Professional Corporation, 2013. Web. 09 Mar. 2015.

This website catches ones attention as the introduction page has the following words in large font:
Accountants are not boring people, we just get excited about boring stuff. It speaks of the services
Colby McGeachy Professional Corporation provides. These services include Canadian taxes, United
States and International taxes, assurance and advice on accounting statements. It also has a number of
tools available for its clients such as a tax organizer worksheet, a financial health check tool and a
newsletter. An interesting but not so useful part of the website was the profiles of the partners. It was
fun to read about them and interesting to see that a number of the staff members are CPAs, but it was
not informative to understand what their jobs entailed. The content is written by Colby McGeachy
Professional Corporation therefore there is some bias about the quality of service the corporation
provides. This website was interesting to research in order to understand the services of a small
accounting firm.

"CPA Requirements." AU Faculty of Business. Athabasca University Faculty of Business, 2015. Web. 09 Mar.
2015.

This university business program website describes the CPA designation and the new degree
requirements. It informs students that they must have at least 120 credit hours of education (Bachelor
of Commerce, Accounting Major) to apply to the CPA program. Minimum grade requirements are
shared as are the various courses one can take in order to be eligible for the CPA Program. The website
provides factual information to students about their Bachelor of Commerce program and how it links to
the CPA Program. The Athabasca University, faculty of Business website has credible, factual
information that is important for students that are pursuing an accounting profession. This website has
important information about the Bachelor of Commerce program and the expectations of grade
percentages. It is surprising to learn how low the grade requirement minimums are for this program
(60% in each prerequisite course and a minimum GPA of 65% overall).

Mcfarland, Janet, Ms. "Canadian Accountants Merge under CPA Designation." The Globe and Mail. The
Globe and Mail, 23 June 2015. Web. 09 Mar. 2015.

This article speaks about the merger between the different accounting bodies and how the process has
been complex and long but how unification made sense. The merger required approval from over forty
accounting bodies in all of the provinces and territories and from Bermuda, where accountants are
regulated under Canadian accounting standards. The article is supportive of the merger as it states that
the merger has brought the best of the three predecessor bodies into one education system. The article
is bias as many of the positive quotes in the article come from Rod Barr who is the Chief Executive
officer of CPA Ontario. This article was informative as it is important for one to understand how the
three former bodies merged into one.

"Want to Turn Pro?" Chartered Professional Accountants Canada. CPA Canada, 2015. Web. 09 Mar. 2015.

This website describes how one can become a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), why one
should consider becoming a CPA and provides details about the certification program. Detail about the
program, such as how the certification is globally accepted and respected and the fact that CPAs are
high in demand are shared. The core module (courses that everyone must take), the elective module
(different courses of specialization) and the capstone modules (work experience and final exams) are
documented well. The website is very informative of the career choices available to a CPA and all the
requirements to become a CPA. It is a highly informative and accurate website as it is the official CPA
website of Canada. This website was informative as it provides a lot of details about the certification
program and what the future possibilities are for a CPA.

DETAILED SUMMARY

Through this research I have learned that to become a Chartered Professional Accountant one
must be prepared to invest a lot of time and effort. For myself I would first need to complete
my grade eleven and twelve high school years and then enroll into a Bachelor of Commerce
Program. My courses must be selected wisely to make sure they line up with the CPA
certification program. After my degree I would be in a position to apply for the CPA program
and then start with the core module courses. Later I must select the courses for my elective
module.

After completing all those courses I would be enrolled in the capstone (work

experience) module of the CPA certification program and finally write the exams to obtain my
CPA designation. The career possibilities of a CPA are many and this attracts me to this career
choice. It is also impressive that the CPA certification has the best of the three former
certification programs (CMA, CA, CGA) and is highly respected around the world.
Although I learnt a lot during this research project, I will need to do further research to
determine which university I would like to attend to start my Bachelor of Commerce. I will also
do additional research to further understand each of the modules of the certification program in
detail. Although Athabasca Universitys minimum marks for their Bachelor of Commerce
programs are quite low (65% average), I dont believe that this will be the same for all
universities. I would like to know some other universities minimum averages, especially for
the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. I am also interested in reading up more on
the Ontario CPA website and a few accounting firm websites to understand the profession
better.